Five is the number that comes after four and before six. It's the number of fingers on one hand, the number of points on many stars, and the number of players on a basketball team.

Five appears everywhere in daily life. Many school weeks have five days. A nickel equals five pennies. Your senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) number five. When someone says “give me five,” they're asking for a celebratory hand slap. A pentagon has five sides, and many flowers have five petals.

In mathematics, five is a prime number. It is in the middle of the numbers from zero through ten, making it useful for thinking about halfway points.

The word also describes a group of five things, like a basketball five (the players on the court) or taking five (a short break). When friends plan to meet at five, they mean 5:00 on the clock. Five shows up in phrases too, like high five, which celebrates success.